Baltic M&A Monitor 2018

Mergermarket is pleased to present the Baltic M&A Monitor, in association with Ellex. This report provides a detailed look at M&A activity in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, along with forecasts for the year ahead.

According to Mergermarket data, a total of 53 deals worth €642m were announced across the three countries in 2017. This registered a 17% drop in volume and 10% decrease in value compared to the previous year. However, this needs to be put into context – Baltic M&A volume hit a post-crisis high in 2016 as global M&A broke a number of records, and deal volume and value in 2017 has been comparable to the majority of post-crisis years.

Other highlights from the report include:

Inbound deals accounted for 58% of all Baltic M&A deal volume in 2017, up from 37% in 2016 and an average of just 13% between 2012-16.

Private equity deal value rose to a five-year high of €347m in 2017, buoyed by deals such as the €211m acquisition of Latvia’s Food Union Company by Meridian Capital Management and PAG Capital, one of Asia’s largest PE funds – by some margin the highest valued transaction of the year.

The technology, media, and telecoms (TMT) sector continues to be a steady source of deal activity, accounting for 15% of deals by volume in 2016-17, up from 13% in 2013-15. It accounted for nearly a third of transactional value – 29% – in 2016-17, up from just 7% over the previous three years.

Looking ahead, the Mergermarket Heat Chart, which logs ‘companies for sale stories’ for the past six months, shows that the industrials & chemicals sector is generating the highest number of M&A targets (11), followed by consumer (seven).